'The Linguists': Saving the World's Languages23:05

Copy the code below to embed the WBUR audio player on your site

This article is more than 11 years old.Of the world's seven thousand languages nearly half will disappear by the end of this century. Their extinction means the end of entire cultures, traditions, and histories.

K. Davis Harrison and Gregory Anderson are on a mission to save these dying languages. They're linguists, but not the kind who spend their lives in libraries and classrooms.

They travel the world — from the Bolivian Andes to the steppes of Siberia — searching for the last speakers of native tongues. Think of them as action-adventure linguists with a cause.

This hour, On Point: the race to save vanishing languages.Guests:

Greg Anderson, co-founder and director of Living Tongues: Institute for Endangered Languages, he teaches linguistics at the University of Oregon.

David Harrison, professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, author of "When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge," and co-founder and director of research for Living Tongues: Institute for Endangered Languages.

Daniel Miller, co-founder of Ironbound Films and co-producer, co-director, and writer of the documentary film "The Linguists"